Filing opens Dec. 11

Three Seneca City Council terms are set to expire this April, while filing to enter that race is only weeks away.

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By Whitney Saporito

Neosho Daily News - Neosho, MO

By Whitney Saporito

Posted Nov. 27, 2012 at 12:11 AM
Updated Nov 27, 2012 at 12:17 AM

By Whitney Saporito

Posted Nov. 27, 2012 at 12:11 AM
Updated Nov 27, 2012 at 12:17 AM

SENECA – Three Seneca City Council terms are set to expire this April, while filing to enter that race is only weeks away.

Cyndy Hutchings, Seneca city clerk, said the seats of John Adams, Ward 1, Cecil Vance, Ward 2, and Hack Zane, Ward 3, will be up for election this spring.

Filing for local races is set to begin at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11.

Vance, mayor pro-tem, and Zane, are serving two-year terms, set to expire in 2013. Adams is serving a one-year, unexpired term for the seat previously held by mayor Mark Bennett.

Adams also previously served Ward 1, before narrowly losing the April 2012 election to Derinda Malone. However, when Bennett was elected Seneca mayor, the council was left with a vacant Ward 1 seat, and council members voted to fill that seat with Adams for the remainder of the term.

Both Zane and Vance ran uncontested in the April 2011 election.

It was unknown Monday evening if the three councilmen plan to seek re-election.

Those interested in joining the race can do so by visiting the Seneca City Hall, 1303 Cherokee Ave.

Filing runs through 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 15.

• • •

Seneca City Council members also revisited a plan to cut down on litter in the city at their Monday evening council meeting.

In their Nov. 12 meeting, Vance noted the large amount of signage left posted around Seneca.

"To me, that looks bad and I want to put a stop to that," Vance told council members.

The council then considered the creation of a new city ordinance intended to cut down on the amount of signage not taken down.

However, on Monday, James Altic, Seneca police chief, informed the council that the city has an existing littering ordinance that can be applied to the lingering signage.

Bennett said the city is working with attorney Andy Wood to make a few changes to the ordinance, and are planning to enforce it to help clean up the town.

"Our main thing is to get a name and an address on the signs so if they're left we'll know who to contact for the littering issues," Bennett said, noting that the signs range from birthday messages to garage sale advertisements. "Right now there's so many signs being put out, then the signs are forgotten, just to go the wind and the city has to pick them up at our expense."

Though regularly held on the second and fourth Monday of the month, the Seneca City Council will hold their December meetings Dec. 3 and Dec. 17 due to the Christmas holiday.